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Friday, April 25, 2014

30 by 30

This year will be a milestone birthday for me (me = Susan... I felt the need to make sure y'all know it's me writing today since I've been a huge slacker and most of the posts have been by Derek this year.. okay, ALL the posts have been by Derek this year).

Anyway, on July 24th I will be turning 30! In honor of this life achievement (umm... because yes, getting older is an achievement. It is awesome. It means you didn't die yet. Be excited about birthdays people!) I wanted to do something big. When I've got friends like Clay Kennedy, who did the Linville Crusher to celebrate his 30th with Derek, it is easy to be inspired to do something awesome!

At first I thought, "Well, running a marathon would be big." A marathon has been on my bucket list ever since I've had a bucket list. What a great, healthy way to bring in the next decade of life! But then I thought, why stop at 26.2? How cool would it be to run 30 miles for my 30th birthday?

So that's what I decided to do!

I immediately started looking for 50k races in the region (since that's the closest standard race distance to 30 miles) and quickly discovered that nobody else thinks it's a good idea to do a 50k in the south July... there are no 50k races to be found around my birthday anywhere near where I live.

Rather than take this as a sign that maybe I should hold off and do this at a later date, I'm just going to make my own 30 mile run. I'm still looking for the best place to run it - Derek suggested the Art Loeb Trail in Pisgah National Forest. It's a possibility, though I'm a bit worried about sprained ankle potential. Open to suggestions there! I know I want it to be a trail run or at least a dirt-road run.

I'm also looking for friends who may want to join in for any or all of this adventure -- as running buddies, race support, or just joining us for the post 'race' birthday party that will take place.

If you are interested in getting involved or just want to shout out some positive encouragement (always appreciated), get in touch with me whatever way you normally do (comment, FB, email, phone). We'll make some plans.